


Testing Theories

by Lilyliegh



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Winter, ygotp2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-07
Updated: 2016-12-07
Packaged: 2018-09-07 02:08:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8778985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilyliegh/pseuds/Lilyliegh
Summary: Can duel spirits feel the cold?





	

**Author's Note:**

> for the ygotp week one prompt: ice and snow

Yuuma calls Kotori the minute he wakes up, looks outside, and spots the cotton-like snow on his front lawn. “Kotori! Kotori, it’s snowing! Wait, you’ve already seen it? And you didn’t call me? I slept through this last night?!”

Yuuma hears Kotori sigh on the other line. “I figured you’d already seen it. We heard about it on the news yesterday. First snowfall of the year too. I just figured you’d stayed up late watching it, and then fell asleep afterwards –”

“No, I slept through it all,” Yuuma moans into the receiver.

“It’s still snowing,” Kotori points out. “I can be over in a few minutes if you want to play in it.”

This perks Yuuma up. “Good idea, Kotori! We’ll enjoy the snow together.” Turning to Astral, who floats a few paces away with a cautious eye out the window, Yuuma adds, “Oi, Astral! Can you feel the cold outside or are duel spirits im- _impervious_ to snow?”

Astral looks up and frowns. “I do not feel cold,” he comments. “I do not think I can ever touch the snow either. This snow though … it’s looks familiar.”

“As in like back home?” Yuuma asks. He hangs up on Kotori mid-sentence of her telling him to not forget his jacket and hat. He won’t forget; he slips on the first sweater he can find and his Kuriboh hat, and begins a search for gloves that he assumes will end fruitlessly. Yuuma finds an extra hat and throws it at Astral just to confirm that duel spirits cannot, in fact, wear clothing.

“My home?”

“Like a memory,” Yuuma clarifies. “Did you ever play in snow?”

Astral pauses to reflect. “No,” he says at last, “I just thought the snow looked like the card Driving Snow.”

Yuuma laughs outright; of course Astral would relate it to Duel Monsters.

Quickly, Yuuma fishes out his scarf – gloves are still missing – and then hurries down the fireman pole, then down the stairs, into his living room. His sister and grandma catch him dashing into the kitchen to steal breakfast, but whatever Yuuma shouts at them on his dash out the door is garbled by the rice in his mouth.

He had peeked out his window when Kotori had told him it was snowing, but now that Yuuma’s opened the door and is standing in the middle of a winter wonderland, he can say yes it is snowing outside, and yes he is definitely going to cannonball into the closest snowbank. With a cry of “ _Kattobingu_!”, Yuuma jumps feet-first into a patch of snow in his yard; his feet sink in with a soft crunch, giving way to the harder ice underneath. The snow reaches mid-calf - not too high – but it takes some manoeuvering to get his legs unstuck – and then Yuuma jumps in again.

“Look at it, Astral! Look at all the snow!”

Astral nods at it. “This is quite the sight, Yuuma.” With a fond smile, he adds, “You look quite happy.”

“Happy? I’m overjoyed!” Yuuma retorts. “First snowfall of the year!” He shoves his bare hands into the snow, wincing slightly at the stinging cold that nips at his fingers and palms. He pats together a snowball the size of a baseball and tosses it from hand to hand. “See this, Astral? It’s a snowball. You can throw it at something … or someone –”

On cue, Kotori opens the door, and she only has a moment to duck before Yuuma chucks the snowball at her feet; he misses, and it hits her in the arm.

“Yuuma!” she admonishes.

“Hey!” Yuuma raises his hands. “I was aiming elsewhere.”

Brushing snow off her peacoat, Kotori reprimands, “Well, your aim sucks. It’s not like you have to aim at someone.”

“But – well –” Yuuma laughs. “Here, I’ll aim elsewhere.” Yuuma reaches down, makes another snowball – this one several times larger, and more like a snow-boulder – and heaves it up with both hands. Because of the snow-boulder’s wide circumference, Yuuma can’t throw it, so he swings his arm to the side and the snowball smashes on the concrete path leading up to his house.

“We should make a snowman,” Kotori says, looking to where the snow-boulder hit on the path. She had the right idea to wear warm, fuzzy mittens that cover her hands; dipping them into the packing snow, she begins to pat together a small ball. She then rolls it around on the ground, picking up more and more snow until the ball is the size of a basketball, then a baseball, then a beach ball.

Yuuma follows suit, ignoring the burning in his hands and how they clench in the freezing temperature. Yuuma decides at once that he’s going to make the biggest snowball ever: once his snowball surpasses the size of his head, he begins to roll it from one end of the yard to the other. Floating by his side, Astral asks, “What does a snowman look like, Yuuma?”

“Um, like a bunch of snowball stacked on top of each other. And then you put a face on it, and maybe some arms and legs.” Then to Kotori: “Kotori, we should make a duel monster snowman!”

“How are we going to make one of those?” Kotori asks, looking up from the second snowball she’s made. So far, Yuuma can see the small balls that could be feet, and maybe if he got some log-shaped snow pieces he could make legs. Then he’d need armour for Hope, and a sword, and –

Yuuma laughs. “We’ll just stick everything together, OK, Kotori? We’ll make the best duel monster ever.”

“Sure, Yuuma! Let’s see what we can make!”

Yuuma works hard to pat down pieces for the legs. Snowballs don’t seem to roll well into logs, but the snow is thick and sticky enough for Yuuma to fill in the spots between snowballs that he can stack them atop each other and shape into logs. His red hands shiver as they sculpt the legs of the Hope statue; across the yard, Kotori makes more and more snowballs for Yuuma to use as foundation.

Meanwhile, Astral watches in amazement. Yuuma catches him try to feel the snow and cold, but as a duel spirit he can only see the snow. This doesn’t stop Astral from asking questions about the properties and sensations of snow, which he states are purely for analytical studies and not for his own amusement. However, it bugs Yuuma that Astral can’t feel the snow. While Astral seems content to watch Yuuma and Kotori make the snow-Hope, Yuuma can tell he feels left out of the activities. Yuuma himself can’t imagine having to sit out of such an activity. To never be able to feel heat or coldness sounds like a punishment to Yuuma who feels everything at full-strength. As Yuuma lifts up another snowball, he think maybe Astral will be able to feel the snow. He can feel Yuuma when they hold hands, and he is able to grasp some things, so maybe …

Yuuma winds up his arm, leans back, and then with all his might throws the snowball at Astral. It sails through the air in a clean arc, catching the muted sunshine in the cloudy skies as it sails up, up – and over Astral, and now it’s long past him, wow Yuuma that was quite the throw, and it goes right over the fence. However, it doesn’t hit the ground: no, Yuuma hears a cry – “Ow!” – as his snowball smacks someone walking by.

“Oh no,” is all Yuuma can think to say.

“Hey!” the voice calls from the other side of the fence. It sounds angry and mature – did he hit an adult? Oh no, and now this adult will want to talk to his sister or grandmother, and they’re both going to get mad at him. Kotori’s already mad at him, and maybe a bit scared too.

“Did you just hit someone?” she whispers, though her voice is still too loud and the stranger hears them.

“Hey, open up! Are you listening!”

Yuuma rushes to the gate and opens the door – and it’s Kaito. The point of his hair is sagging from the wet snow in it, and despite dressing warm in a black winter coat and red-and-blue scarf, he doesn’t look particularly warm or happy. He frowns and shoves open the rest of the door for Yuuma.

“You.”

Yuuma smiles widely. “Hiya, Kaito! Fancy seeing you here.”

Kaito rolls his eyes. “Were you planning on purposefully pelting passerbys with snowballs?”

“I missed.”

“Missed what?”

Yuuma points up at Astral. “It’s his first time seeing snow, and I thought maybe he could feel it too if I threw it at him, but I missed. I didn’t expect you to be walking by though! How could I even plan that? Though you do have to admit though: that’s some timing.” Yuuma laughs; Kaito rolls his eyes. “What are you doing here anyways?”

Kaito opens his mouth, pauses, and then crosses his arms. “Shopping.”

“For Haruto?”

Kaito nods.

Yuuma beats Kaito to the question before he can even ask it: “You should get him a bike - something that he can ride around city and go places. Better yet, get yourselves both bikes! Then you can bike with me and Kotori, and Shark and Rio have bikes too, and we can all go biking together sometime. Only you’ll need to learn how to ride a bike - I don’t think they make training wheels for adult bikes -”

“I wouldn’t have training wheels anyways,” Kaito growls. “And Haruto doesn’t need a bike. He stays at home all day and plays video games anyways.”

This doesn’t seem to deter Yuuma. “Ooh, then you should get him one of those new games? How about a Pokemon or Zelda game? Or does he like shooting games?”

Oblivious to Yuuma’s rambling it seems, Kotori suggests a game he can play on a handheld device on his way to school. Yuuma can’t tell if Kaito appreciates the suggestions or not, but he rambles off a few more just in case.

“No matter what you get him Kaito, he’ll love it become he loves you!”

That puts a blush of Kaito’s cheeks and neither Yuuma nor Kaito can say is from the nipping cold.

“Of course,” Kaito says. “I’m going now!”

Before he can go, Yuuma quickly stands up on his tip toes and brushes the snow from Kaito’s hair; the excess snow lands in Kaito’s face and on his jacket, and judging by his hunched shoulder and pinched expression, Yuuma thinks maybe some went down his jacket too. “There you go, Kaito! All better!”

Kaito brushes the snow from his shoulders. “I’ll ask if I need any more suggestions. Bye.” And storms out of Yuuma’s front yard, out the gate and down the street. Yuuma waves goodbye – then as soon as he’s gone Yuuma shoves his freezing fingers back into the snow, makes a quick snowball, and chucks it up. The snowball goes through Astral’s invisible form, shoots up into the sky, and then crashes back down into Yuuma’s face.

“Bah!” That didn’t work at all.

“Yuuma, while it is true that the more you try the more likely to are to succeed, I believe in this case it will be quite hard for you – oh!” Yuuma shoves his cold hands onto Astral’s arm, and even though Astral shouldn’t be able to feel the snow, he can feel Yuuma’s chilled hands.

“Cold, ain’t it?” Yuuma says. He removes his hands and laughs, then blows on them to warm them slightly. “I told you snow was cold.”

Astral chuckles under his breath. “You did.”


End file.
